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It was a Harvest of pain, regret and suffering in Castle Rock this week. The Kid is free from prison, but is the town reaping a harvest of pain because of it? Henry and Alan come to peace with each other as Ruth reaps the harvest of living in the Rock for too long.
Harvest of Suffering – The Kid:
The Kid has been imprisoned and is now free. He seems to feel the pain and suffering of the town. Is he the one who is sowing the pain and death or does he just reap the harvest. He was set free because Warden Potter’s superiors want things handled and if it goes wrong they will deny knowledge and throw her under the bus. Henry meets The Kid as he exits the prison. He takes The Kid to get his head checked out. He does a memory test, like we see Henry has done in the past. The Doctor says there is nothing wrong with him physically and the retrograde amnesia is emotional. Henry stresses he is the Kid’s lawyer and wants them to care for him. They can’t but offer to get him on the list for Juniper Hill Asylum.
Molly offers the second floor of the mill building, where she has her office, for the Kid. They set up an air mattress and tell him to say in all weekend. But The Kid goes walking at night. He is attracted to the sound of Shirley Temple’s “Animal Crackers In My Soup” playing at a child’s birthday party. He enters the home and things immediately go crazy. The father kills the wife, older child and possibly himself leaving the baby crying. The Kid sits on the roof afterwards.
The next day Jackie comes in with coffee and the paper for Molly. She wanders upstairs and lays on the bed. A naked Kid comes over. Later we see them parked beside the old shirt factory and she is smoking pot. She as it turns out is an aspiring writer. She is bemoaning the fact that all the cool stuff happened before her time. We also find out that Jack Torrence (The Shining) was her uncle and her parents won’t talk about him. She even renamed herself from Diane to Jackie to piss them off.
The Kid seems to be hearing all the things that are wrong with the town. He goes up on the roof and looks like he is going to jump. Jackie calls Molly. Molly goes up on the roof and she can hear loud and clear what The Kid is broadcasting. She talks him down and takes him to the Deavers. Henry comes in and Molly clearly lays out her powers and why she thinks The Kid is wrong. Henry has had a tough day and in some way identifies with The Kid. He offers up his dad’s workshop for for the night. The Kid finds a piano and starts to play, possibly “Come Ye Thankful People Come/Harvest Home” hymn.
Later that night, a drunk Alan is at his bridge. He takes off the plaque and tosses it in the river. He gets an alert on his phone from the cameras Henry has set up to monitor Ruth. He sees The Kid and heads that way. The Kid is wandering in the woods and Alan confronts him. We find out that 27 years ago, Alan pulled over Warden Lacy. He opened the trunk and finds The Kid. He believes Lacy that The Kid is the Devil. Alan says he cannot remember his dead wife’s face but he remembers and dreams about The Kid. In 27 years, The Kid has not aged a day. Alan wants answers about his life. The Kid says he is not the Devil but he can fix Ruth.
Harvest of Regret – Deavers & Pangborns:
Alan has loved and cared for Ruth for decades. Their’s was love fated to not end well. Alan has done his best to care for Ruth and keep her sharp mentally, but he is failing. Henry wants what is best for his mother and knows Alan wants the same. The county is honoring Alan for his years of service by dedicating a bridge in the Rock in his honor. It is hard for him. Ruth comes in and sees him struggling with his tie, due to arthritis, and ties it for him. They have a great banter back and forth like an old married couple. Henry walks in at the end and hears and sees their love for each other. He is just wanting to borrow the car, but his mother insists he go to ceremony.
Turnout for the ceremony is light. The town is reeling from the events at Shawshank and the wildfires. The current sherif honor’s Alan and his service. We see Henry at the back taking things in and his mother upfront proud and beaming. Alan starts his speech saying he wanted to a magician growing up, but the storytelling and the banter is where he fell short. He thanks the town for their faith in him through the years. One of the people in the crowd has a dog and it is upsetting Ruth. She walks over to the bridge and jumps off. Henry quickly follows and saves her.
Later at the hospital, Alan shares with Henry his history with Ruth. He asked her to marry him in ’91. She refused because of Henry and because she didn’t deserve happiness. Alan left the state and when he came back he figured it was too late. But she needed him and they re-connected. By that time however her memory loss had started. They go in to see Ruth and the love Alan has for her is so evident. She says the dog set her off, nothing stays dead in this town. She says it is like someone opened her book, ripped out all the pictures and put them back in the wrong order. She says Henry knows all about forgetting his own story.
Henry knows that while he my have issues with Alan, his mother needs him and vice versa. But he is reminded of his own family. He calls his ex and asked her to send his son, Wendell, up so he can know Ruth before she passes and while she can still remember him.
King Connections:
Diane a.k.a. Jackie Torrence’s uncle was Jack and she is also a writer. Henry says the Kid could be the Bangor Strangler that was Frank Dodd from Dead Zone. The birthday party is for Gordy, same name as in The Body. The Doctor talks about getting The Kid into Juniper Hill asylum. It played a part in IT, Needful Things and many other stories. The barking dog reminded Ruth of Cujo. She thought it had come back a la Pet Seminary.
This week’s movie is Cujo. Set in the Rock, Cujo is a tale of terrors, marriage problems and a dog gone mad.
Check out the movie from Amazon or iTunes.
Here is a link to the Book and Audiobook.
Closing Thoughts:
Harvest was sad and frightening. The pacing was slow, but the mysteries and revelations at the end blew us away. There was a spirited debate in the facebook group over the mysteries. It was fun to see my theory that the Kid does not age play out. I’m wondering if he is a being like IT and Dandelo who feed off of emotions. I also wonder if Henry some how passed through a thinny to another world as a kid and some how his escape let The Kid into this world. May be The Kid helped Henry escape. We are left with so many questions. I love this series and am having a blast reading your thoughts on the Facebook group and hearing them here on the podcast.
Links:
Interactive Map of Stephen King’s Maine (new spots active this week)
News:
So here is what we have about episodes six and seven.
Episode 6 Filter: Henry’s son visits from Boston; a funeral stirs up unsettling memories.
Episode 7 The Queen: Memories haunt Ruth Deaver.
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